Wake County Has a Library Bond on Voters' Ballots This Fall. How Would the Money Be Spent?

The town of Wendell has outgrown its tiny community library. It’s easy to see why, even before you’ve stepped inside.

The town is buzzing, stretching, bursting with new development. Blocks of townhomes in various stages of construction line the roads, punctuated by backhoes and clear-cut lots ripe for something new. The once-sleepy suburb added 5,000 new residents between 2020 and 2023, bringing its population to 14,400. By 2030, town officials expect that number to double.

The library hasn’t quite kept up. Its single, rectangular room is divided into a children’s area on one side and an adult section on the other. Handmade paper cutouts of trees adorn the walls, and colorful book displays announce the arrival of autumn and Hispanic Heritage Month. There are a handful of public computers in the back corner, and a friendly librarian sits behind the front desk. It’s the picture of small-town coziness—but like Wendell, it’s bursting at the seams.

This November, the very last question on Wake County ballots will ask voters if they support a $142 million bond to improve the public library system. The bond would pay for a new, bigger library in Wendell, as well as two new libraries in Apex and Rolesville, the replacement of the Athens Drive Community Library in Raleigh, the expansion of the Fuquay-Varina Community Library into a regional library, and much-needed renovations to several other libraries within the system.


https://indyweek.com/news/wake/wake-county-has-a-library-bond-on-voters-ballots-this-fall-how-would-the-money-be-spent/